2007 CSA Week 2

News from Windy Willow Farm: 2007 Week 2
windywillowfarm@verizon.net 627-0476
This week’s share includes:

¾ pound of Asparagus- A much smaller bunch for your share than I anticipated. I’m hoping for more vigorous growth in the entire garden for this week!
1 bunch rhubarb- All out of ideas for your rhubarb? Wash, then cut into 1-inch pieces, throw into a bag and freeze. Then when you’re ready to make a strawberry-rhubarb pie, you’re all set! 1 bunch chives- You can eat the blossoms as well, as they are beautiful in salads.
1 bunch lovage- Lovage is an under-appreciated herb, in my opinion! It is quite unknown, but serves many purposes: the “straw” in a bloody mary or other drink (it’s hollow), a salty celery replacement (great for folks who can’t eat salt, but need to flavor dishes!) and is fabulous in potato salad. A little goes a long way, so try it sparingly. You use both the stalk and the leaves.

Best guess for next week’s share: spinach, lettuce (mesclun) mix, asparagus, cilantro. Don’t hold me to it!

Spring is always a stressful time for me. It’s so hard to predict how the weather will be (ok, that’s impossible!) and what will grow fast enough to include in our early shares. I’ve been watching the lettuce mix with a close eye, thinking that it might be ready for today’s share, but no luck. It’s still very small, maybe 2 ½ inches tall. The same goes for the spinach. So, thank you for your patience as the season progresses – we try to make up for the sparse early weeks!

Weeds are the bane of my garden! We’ve been working hard to keep them under control for a few reasons: they compete for nutrients, water and sunlight with our vegetable plants, and when you let them go to seed, they will plague you for seven years! What I don’t understand is why the weeds grow so vigorously, while my veggies grow so slowly?! We prefer to cultivate the soil when the weed seeds have just germinated, and still only have 2 leaves. When they are that small, just a small amount of effort is required to disturb their roots, and allow the hot sun to kill them. When they are allowed to grow bigger, weed eradication takes more work. It is an ongoing battle, and one we usually only have time to fight until strawberry season. Then the weeds get the upper hand for yet another year!

You’ve probably noticed that we have more white row covers in the garden. We were able to plant our zucchini, yellow squash and cucumbers (2 slicing and one lemon) so far. We put row covers on them to protect them from the squash beetles, and to warm them up so they grow faster. I know that as soon as I take off the covers, those beetles will go to town, but at least the plants will be more established and better able to withstand the assault. We still need to plant our many varieties of winter squash and melons, there just isn’t time enough in the day!

Several of you have asked about when is a good time to come out and help on the farm. We work in the garden most days (though I like to take weekends off), so if you have some time and interest, just let me know. I don’t think I’ve ever turned down an interested, enthusiastic worker!

Every time I turn on the radio, I hear someone talking about eating local; it seems it’s the latest fad. I think it’s a fantastic movement – if you don’t support your local farms, the farms go away. We’re always trying to follow our 100-mile diet (www.100milediet.org). When your food doesn’t have to travel thousands of miles to get to your kitchen, more nutrition is maintained and less pollution released into the environment. Also, the smaller, local farmers generally can’t afford to use genetically engineered seeds; often they don’t need to spray their crops much because they grow many different crops, instead of a monoculture that may be more prone to pests and disease. Thanks for doing your part to support your local agriculture!

Thank you for your enthusiastic support,
Gwen, Mark, Sarah and Jason
© Gwen Hyde 2007


Crispy Rhubarb Pie
3 ½ cups diced rhubarb 1 Tbs all-purpose flour
½ cup white sugar 1 recipe pastry for 9-inch single pie crust
¼ cup butter ½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup crushed cornflakes cereal ½ cup all-purpose flour

Combine rhubarb, 1 Tbs flour and white sugar. Mix well and place in pie shell.

Melt the butter or margarine and mix with 1/2 cup brown sugar, crushed corn flakes and 1/2 cup flour. Mix in a bowl and pat down on top of pie. Bake in oven at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 40 minutes. Turn off oven and leave the pie in the oven for another hour. Serve warm.

Nutrition information: Servings: 8. Amount per serving: Calories: 314. Total fat: 13.4 g. Cholesterol: 16 mg. Sodium: 202 mg. Total Carbs: 46.8 (Dietary Fiber: 2.1 g.) Protein: 2.9 g.

Lentils With Lovage
1/2 small chopped sweet onion chopped butter (enough to sauté onion)
12 ounces whole green lentils
1/2 cup chopped lovage
1 sprig of fresh thyme orange zest/peel
chicken/vegetable stock or water
Sauté the chopped onions in the butter to soften but do not brown. Stir in the lentils. Add the chopped lovage, thyme, one strip on orange peel or a small amount of zest and stock. Cover and simmer until tender. Remove the lentil mixture with a slotted spoon and reduce the liquid in the pan, while adding a little more butter and salt and pepper to taste. Serve over the lentil mixture. Serves 4.

Asparagus Mimosa
3 pounds asparagus, trimmed and stem ends peeled

Mimosa: 2 hard boiled eggs, sieved
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives 6 sprigs fresh parsley, chopped
Dressing: 1-1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3 tablespoon wine vinegar 3/4 cup vegetable or olive oil freshly ground pepper and salt to taste

Place asparagus in flat pan, covering with boiling water. Simmer until tender-crisp. Refresh with cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain well, then refrigerate. Make the Mimosa by mixing eggs, parsley and chives. Set aside. Make the dressing by mixing the mustard and vinegar in a bowl, beating with wire whip until smooth. Add oil while beating constantly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Coat asparagus with dressing. Sprinkle Mimosa over the asparagus tips. Pass any remaining dressing.